The word sufganiya is a modern Hebrew word that originated from the Greek word, sufgan, which means puffed and fried. In Jerusalem, every single bakery, regardless of the bakers race, culture or creed, will make plenty of these delicious doughnuts at Chanukkah – in fact,  in almost all Jewish communities all over the world, these will be a popular choice this season.  They used to consist of two rounds of dough sandwiching a generous portion of jam but the jam always ran out during the frying. Today, with new injectors on the market, balls of dough can be deep-fried first and then injected with jam before being rolled in sugar,

much easier, much quicker and much less messy.

Ingredients

• 1,250 g  unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted
• 2 tbsp active dried yeast
• 4 tbsp sugar, plus castor sugar for rolling
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 190 ml lukewarm milk
• 2 large organic egg yolks
• Pinch of salt
• 1 ½ tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature*
• Vegetable oil for deep-frying
• 125 ml jam – you can use anything you prefer, like plum, strawberry or apricot jam

Method

• Dissolve the yeast and 2 tbsp of sugar into the milk (or the water) and stir to dissolve.
• Place the flour onto a work surface and make a well in the middle, add the yeast mixture, the egg yolks, the salt, the cinnamon and the remaining 2 tbsp sugar.
• Knead this well, working the butter (or margarine) into the dough and kneading until the dough is elastic and silky – (you can also use a food processor fitted with the steel blade, processing it for about 2 minutes).
• Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover it with plastic, and allow it rise overnight in the refrigerator (this really is the best way for a lovely texture).
• The next day, sprinkle flour onto the work surface and roll out the dough thinly, then using cutter or a floured drinking glass, cut out circles and let them rise for at least 15 minutes – they need to double in size.
• Form these dough circles into balls with your hands.
• Pour a generous amount of oil in a heavy based pot and heat until moderately hot.
• Place a few doughnuts in the oil at a time and turn them around with a slotted spoon after a few minutes – you want them to be golden in colour and crisp.
• Remove and place on absorbent kitchen paper.
• Using a turkey baster or any injector (these are usually available at cooking stores), inject a tsp of jam into each doughnut.
• Roll all the doughnuts into granulated sugar and serve immediately.

*Depending on what kind of meal will be eaten, substitute water for the milk and parve margarine for the butter.